Special Post
by TripWire- dono
Summary: The characters of A Touch of Saffron receive postcards signed by pseudonyms asking them questions about anything ranging from mundane to personal. They have no idea why they are getting them, but are happy to answer them all the same in their own unique way. Who knows, revealing their opinions and secret parts of their lives to anonymous people could be cathartic.
1. Post Card 1 - Iceland

_Post card 1 - Iceland_

* * *

"Hey Ayame-chan, I'll go grab us some drinks" said Chizuru-chan. "Do you still have peach ice tea in your fridge?"

"Hmmm"

Ayame nodded without looking up from the magazine. There was an absorbing article about gravitational waves and she could barely hear Chizuru-chan make it out the door and thumping down the stairs. From what she gathered, the discovery of the elusive phenomenon could change the way humanity practice science! To think that Einstein-sama had predicted decades and decades ago that there must be another type of wave out there in the wide universe, with nary doubt. No technology of his time had of detecting his gravitation waves, and therefore it was up to the forward thinking and dedicated minds of the twenty-first century to make that prediction true.

Voila!

Ayame gripped the article even tighter in her sweaty fingers. She swallowed hard as her eyes burned the glossy pages of academic science journal she subscribed to since starting University. She was slightly aware of the soft thumping drawing closer and closer, signalling her of Chizuru-chan's return of the said drinks.

"Earth to Ayame! Funny thing happened, when I was about to walk upstairs, someone slipped a postcard under your front door… I went to open it to catch the sneak, but nobody was there. I don't think it's from _Bernardo_ …"

The mention of Takumi-kun stirred Ayame from her happy place. She looked up and blinked thoroughly as Chizuru-chan placed the wooden try of drinks and crackers onto her _chabudai._ Her best friend was very comfortable in Ayame's family home, to the point that she often does as she pleased despite her parent's presence. She would often just go fix herself a drink and few snacks, even just randomly wash the dishes in the sink even though it wasn't hers. She would come over just to lounge around on the living room sofa like she was the pampered cat who owned the joint just because she wanted to. She was like the daughter _Otou-san_ never, ever, ever, ever, ever NEVER wanted, and the daughter _Okaa-san_ loved to gossip with.

"Post card… from where?"

"No idea. I don't recognise the picture"

Colour her intrigued, Ayame bookmarked her page and folded the journal away. She focused her green eyes on Chizuru-chan who dropped the post card onto the table so that she could shove her face with crackers. Ayame gulped and gingerly picked up the small rectangular postcard. There was a picture of an amazing geyser on the front! She gasped. Plumes of water thrusting into the air with a spectacularly freezing looking backdrop or hard black rocks and blinding white snow. The crisp clarity of the photograph sent goose-bumps up her arms. It had to be a hundred metres high. Ayame imagined the amount of pressure it took to send boiling hot water into the atmosphere like that. Curiosity grew and Ayame examined every inch of the photograph until she came across three Roman alphabet words at the bottom.

She couldn't read it…

"Chizuru-chan, what does this say?"

Her best friend leaned over and squinted her eyes.

" _Strokker Geysir… Iceland"_

Iceland?! She had a post card from Iceland?! But _Okaa-san_ is currently on business trip in New York, so it couldn't be from her. Takumi-kun is busy with the _trattoria_ , so it was impossible that he made a trip to Iceland… without her.

Ayame flipped over the card and both girls held their breaths.

 _I've been wondering, Is Isami fat or thin_

 _Morning Songbird_

What.

"That was _not_ what I was expecting" Chizuru-chan chortled and guzzled her ice tea. Ayame pushed her glass just a tad out of reach of Chizuru-chan so she didn't accidently knock it over.

"He was a pretty plump guy wasn't he, made me want to rub his stomach to see if it would give me goodluck" said Chizuru-chan.

"Really? I thought he was rather thin"

"What?"

"What?"

Chizuru-chan stared at her blankly as if Ayame was spouting a mathematical equation in Punjabi.

Hang on a minute… Ayame grabbed her chin and thought for a moment. Isami-kun was somewhere in between... wasn't he? She remembered his wild brunette hair and his cheerful blue eyes that were often crinkled at the sides when he smiled more than anything. He had a big and cheerful laugh as well and was always game for a good time, and good food. If she couldn't think of a definite answer regarding his size, then there was something wrong with her memory.

"I think I'm going to check"

Ayame flipped open her phone and went through all the photos she had taken of Isami-kun. She started from the very first picture. It was when the whole gang were at the Aldini brother's apartment after Isami-kun came back from Italy at the start of their second year. She had just gotten together with Takumi-kun just before that. She fiddled with the ring on her left hand as she thought about her _fiancé._

"So, in this picture he's skinny… This was in summer three years ago" muttered Ayame.

She could feel Chizuru-chan breathing against her ear as she stretched herself to look as well. The creasing in her best friend's brown also told her that she too was dubious of her memory on Isami-kun's size. She flipped through the next few pictures. She didn't have many pictures of Isami-kun since… none of them had time to take that many photos because of school, entrance exams, _Shokugeki_ and stuff. They were busy people!

"This is him again when we were visiting _Ojii-san_ at the hospital. He looked a bit more filled out"

Ayame scrolled through some more.

"Oh woah"

"What is it?" asked Ayame.

"Scroll down more. Three quarters of the way" commanded Chizuru-chan.

Ayame was confused by Chizuru-chan, but sounded like she knew what she was doing, so she obeyed.

What she saw stumped her.

"No way! He gained so much weight!" Ayame gasped.

They were staring at a completely different person! How on Earth did she miss that! They saw the brunette Aldini almost every single week back when they were in high school and she never noticed if he physically changed forms! Ayame was going to have a very strong word with her _fiancé_ in their next video chat about this, because his brother was a shape-shifting wizard and nobody told her. Smiling in the picture was a very plump Isami Aldini. His adorable face was filled out with baby-fat as if he was very well fed by his loving family. His bulbous tummy was sticking a bit out of his belt line and his arms were thicker and stronger looking than before. Takumi-kun standing next to him still looked the same. One wouldn't be able to tell they were brothers, except in the eyes and the brilliant Aldini-smile. Oh this was so trippy…

Ayame noted the date-stamp. This was in the winter, after Nakiri Azami was arrested.

"I-I think his weight changes were so gradual… we didn't even notice. We probably acclimated ourselves to Isami-kun's physiological processes. When I first met Isami-kun he was skinny because it was summer. All the way up to when Azami was arrested, he was still skinny because it was in the Autumn. After that he gained weight, which is normal in winter, I suppose. Then when summer came around again at the end of second year, he lost weight. So, in that full seasonal cycle, it seems like Isami-kun is skinny in the summer and autumn, and then gains weight in the winter and spring…" Ayame fell back onto her back and splayed her arms out wide.

"So that explains why _you_ think he's skinny, and _I_ think he's chubby, and Kuchiyose-kun… doesn't actually care. How about that" Chizuru-chan leaned back. "If you didn't see him for an extended period, then sure, you would notice the change immediately"

"I don't now anymore"

Ayame felt tears starting to leak out the corners of her eyes and she yawned as she stared at the ceiling which was marred by glow in the dark star stickers she slapped on when she was in primary school. She remembered sitting on _Otou-san's_ shoulders so she could do it all by herself for hours just so she could get the constellation right. He didn't complain at all.

"For someone who prides themselves in the scientific method of observation, Ayame-chan, you suck at observing the people around you"

Ayame threw a cushion into Chizuru-chan's face and let the self-satisfied smirk paint her face. Her best friend bowled over with a squawk, but didn't make a fuss after that. Wow, Terunori-kun's power of annoyance must of trained her patience to zen level. She fluffed up the cushion and threw on the other side of the room so it couldn't be reused as a projectile weapon.

"And as someone who's analytical and investigative, you also fail to ask the big question"

"That is?"

"Why are getting postcards from anonymous people using code-names asking random questions?"

Ayame was ready to flip the table.


	2. Post Card 2

_Post Card 2_

* * *

"Mmmmmm… hurry up, I want to eat"

"You know the rules. Everybody on Instagram needs to know that I am self-absorbed, shallow, pretentious, narcissistic and always seeking attention and validation"

Chizuru leaned back against her chair and positioned the camera at just the right height and angle. It took her fifteen minutes, and a few hand-slaps in Ayame-chan's direction to achieve it, but it would be worth it. She shifted a bit more just so she could catch the royal-blue paint in the backdrop which glistened in the golden rays of the midday sun, Ayame-chan's silver bracelet, and Kuchiyose-kun's leather wristband, as they had their arms crossed on the table top. She tapped the red button.

"And… done!"

Ayame-chan whooped and Kuchiyose-kun sighed before they made themselves a little plate from the petite, dainty treats, finger sandwiches and puffy scones along with the small pots of clotted cream and jam.

The soft chatter of amiable conversations from other patrons wafted through the demure café. Karakura honcho had opened its first British tea shop this month called _The_ _Grounds of Highclere._ Ayame-chan had been waiting for months for the building construction for the new shop to finish. She made it known far and wide that she wanted to be the first customer to sit in the air of English sophistication and enjoy some delicate pastries and scones like an English upper class lady. Voila! Here they were in this relaxing ambience! Even though they didn't quite make it as 'first customers', Ayame-chan's exhuberance remained an all-time high. Her best friend's squealing when she saw the grand opening sign under the fancy font and snow-white etchings on the window amused Chizuru and Kuchiyose-kun greatly. Since starting first year university, her past-time for café-hopping was getting out of hand, as much as her free museum trips. Trying new things were rarely a problem unless all three were stint-broke, but this morning, Ayame-chan was _too_ excited to be normal. There was arm-flapping, rapid babbling, and blinding-white teethy-smiles. They chalked this nutcase down to having something to do with a large, suspicious and overly wrapped package sent to her with the return address of _Florence, Italy_ sitting in her cluttered bedroom yesterday _._ Chizuru made a quick deduction.

' _Alfonso_ _sent her another doting gift, it seems… it always sends her into a tizzy. I wonder what he got her'_

Chizuru smirked and flicked to her favourite _Instagram_ filter after rotating the picture, ready to artificially maximise the elegance and charm of their tall tier of gorgeous high tea treats and post it onto her page. The shop served the tea in real, white china pots at round tables that mostly seated two people, but Kuchiyose-kun pulled two tables together for the three of them. At the class fronted counter was an array of cream cakes and pastries, all with English sounding names, and of course there were the obligatory scones. Chizuru had an order of cream tea with Earl Grey.

"I'm not used to seeing you in glasses, Kuchiyose-kun" commented Ayame-chan, licking her fingers from a slight dabbing of cream.

Kuchiyose-kun screwed his nose a bit and tucked his reading glasses away into his breast pocket. Chizuru eyed the small dark indents from the bridge of his nose, and guessed he had them on for a significant number of hours.

"Me neither. But that's what you get for sitting in front of the computer all the time" he mumbled. He bit into his scone which had a generous lathering of jam and chewed quietly.

Chizuru should be agreeing with him, but she had yet to find her eye sight change in the slightest. By the logic of the universe, _she_ should be the one getting glasses first since she was studying to be a video-game developer and had a history of gaming throughout high school, therefore she spent oodles of time in front of the bright television or computer screen and was somehow blessed having her eyes affected. She internally shrugged and she tapped the wooden table to not jinx herself. Kuchiyose-kun wasn't so lucky or was he? As the athletic young adult was always in tuned with his body, he had booked an optometry appointment straight away at the first sign of blurriness and his hunch was right. He needed reading glasses. Of course, Ayame-chan and Chizuru had a hundred percent input into deciding the perfect design to make Kuchiyose-kun look more scrumptious than he already was, just for Alice-san's benefit. They had settled on the wide frame glasses that made him look like an edgy hipster, since he was already rocking the low pony-tail or the occasional man-bun. They weren't disappointed at the result.

Funny thing, Alice-san _was_.

She had video-called Ayame-chan AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING about an Instagram picture of Kuchiyose-kun (curtesy of Chizuru) in his new glasses had shown up on her own Instagram feed. She had demanded in that annoying high-pitched voice of hers AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, Japanese Standard Time, that they must change it because she didn't need to have other girls clawing their 'trampy' nails on her 'bae'. Good thing Ayame-chan had happened to be still working on her university engineering project AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING to take the call, otherwise Chizuru would have been the next person to call AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Kuchiyose-kun was smart enough to switch his phone off before going to sleep and Alice-san knew that. Besides! He was fine anyway and could defend himself from 'trampy nails' on his own.

"Is it because you've had so many written assignments last semester, Kuchiyose-kun? I thought physiotherapy students are supposed to have hands-on, more practical learning" said Chizuru.

"We still have to learn theory too" he replied.

Ayame-chan hummed away as she munched on her third scone. She was looking so calm and collected now, thanks to finally channelling her excitement into eating. The warm day called for light and breezy clothing. Ayame-chan was wearing her favourite off the shoulder top and her hair was in a messy bun. Chizuru could hear her flipping her sandals on and off under the table as she hummed every so often as she enjoyed her treats. Kuchiyose-kun was wearing a short-sleeved, red, thin flannel over his black singlet. His hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and his long fringe was tucked back behind his ears, revealing his slanted, but sharp gaze surveying the outside world through the tea shop windows. Chizuru on the other hand decided on a simple t-shirt emblazoned with a Shakespearean quote, denim shorts, and a pair of her favourite sneakers. There was no need to overthink her clothing choices. From her seat near the window, she could almost hear the heartbeat of the town, quiet, like the ticking of a Grandfather clock. She had a feeling _Grounds of Highclere_ was going to be the new microcosm of happy memories with her two best friends.

"Excuse me"

A waitress floated to the table carrying a something thin in her hands. Everyone looked up in her direction.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I was overhearing you guys talk by coincidence and I just wanted to confirm, is your name Kuchiyose Byakko, sir?" she said in a timid unsure voice, directing her eyes towards the sole male at the table.

"Yeah…" Byakko replied lowly.

Chizuru froze in her seat, while Ayame paused with a finger sandwich halfway to her lips. Just when they were talking about girls hitting on Kuchiyose-kun… what drama would unfold now? The waitress extended her hand and showed him what she was carrying.

"This is addressed to you…"

The mood dropped even further and Kuchiyose-kun narrowed his deep hazel eyes, but took a thin cardboard from the waitress's finger slowly in apprehension. Everybody's eyes dipped too it, and then widened in shock.

"I-It's a postcard!" gasped Ayame-chan.

"Well damn, it is…" Chizuru murmured. Woah. This was de ja vu! "Umm, wait! Sorry! Uhh… How did you get this? Who gave it to you?" Chizuru hurriedly asked before the waitress left.

"Oh. It was slipped under our front door this morning… before we opened for the day. So I'm afraid, we have no clue who did it. It just said 'For Kuchiyose Byakko' in the envelope, but none of the staff here have that name. So we thought we'd just keep it until one of us is free to go return it to the post office. I just so happened to be serving a customer near your table when I heard you say _'Kuchiyose-kun'_ , and then I thought it was meant to be for you"

Ayame-chan and Chizuru exchanged looks. This… was getting so weird. Was it though? First, Ayame-chan received a mysterious postcard, and now Kuchiyose-kun. it couldn't be coincident because who else rocked a name like Kuchiyose Byakko. His brows were pulled in deep thought as he read the the back of the postcard. There was some sort of abstract picture on the front, but nothing Chizuru recognised. The waitress left to return to her duties and Chizuru put away her phone to attend this highly unusual turn of events.

Who the fuck was sending them postcards?

"What does it say?" asked Ayame-chan.

Kuchiyose-kun finished reading and placed it on the table for the girls to read.

* * *

 _OMG I love your story! I didn't like Takumi in the first chapters of the manga, but after reading your story, I changed my mind! He and Ayame are so cute! So are the other romantic pairings. So is this thing like readers asking questions? Is that where the postcards supposed to be coming from? If so *ahem*_

 _I read somewhere in your story that Alice gave Byakko one of her diamond earrings back when they were still together. You wrote that she kept her single one... sooo... what happened to the matching one she gave to Byakko? Sorry if that's a weird question, it was making my brain itch for a while teehee!_

 _\- Sugarsweetpuff_

* * *

Chizuru had no fucking idea what the mumbo jumbo was talking about in the beginning of the postcard, and she really couldn't give a shit about it right now. Maybe when she was in her right mind, she'll figure it out. But the words _'Alice'_ and _'earring'_ was blaring out at her. Ayame-chan snatched the postcard and zipped her green eyes back and forth so fast, Chizuru-chan thought her irises blurred. She sucked in her lips, creating her dear turtle-face.

"Wait… earring? What earring?! You never told us about an earring?" Ayame-chan leaned towards Kuhicyose-kun, making him lean far away from her. He eyed her with uncertainty.

Alice gave Kuchiyose-kun an earring. Oh. Chizuru was now _very_ curious.

"Alice gave me the matching pair of one of her diamond earrings when we were in middle school. She wanted to do that romantic thing with matching keychains, except with earrings"

"Alice-san is classy as fuck" commented Chizuru.

"Did you wear it?" asked Ayame-chan.

She had made a big and hasty show of shifting seats so that she was now huddling against Chizuru. The both were sitting opposite Kuchiyose-kun, cornering him into the wall. Chizuru scooted closer to her best friend and dramatically draped an arm over her bare shoulders as they continued to polish off the finger sandwiches, all the while staring at Kuchiyose-kun dead in the eyes as if he was a captivating movie, and they weren't going anywhere until they find out what happened in the end. He just leaned back scratched the back of his head in mild irritation.

"I did. Here"

He turned his head and pulled against the cartilage of his ear. Ayame and Chizuru-chan leaned forward and squinted their eyes. The tendons in his neck bulged like the cords of bungee rope as he stretched his head to the side. There! Chizuru spotted the little mark of where his cartilage piercing was. Hot damn! He had a cartilage piecing back in middle school?! Sick! How did he not get kicked out for that? Most importantly, how the fuck did Ayame-chan and herself miss this? Fuck, there were still shit they didn't know about Kuchiyose-kun! Chizuru didn't know whether to be offended or excited that she and Ayame-chan will get to sharpen their detective skills and uncover the deep, dark secrets of their soon-to-be-no-longer-private friend, and make it a painful experience for him just for laughs.

"Do you still have it, Kuchiyose-kun?" asked Ayame-chan with great interest.

"Yeah"

"Where is it?"

"…"

"Don't tell me you lost it…" Chizuru glared at him.

" _No._ I didn't lose it"

"Why don't you wear now? Since you and Alice are together again" asked Ayame-chan. An innocent enough question, Chizuru would assume.

"Well… I kind of already am… but it's not an earring anymore"

"What do you mean?" It was Chizuru's turn to interrogate.

Kuchiyose-kun was now looking fervently at anything except the two girls in front of him.

"…"

"…"

' _Oh my god… don't tell me…'_

"It's not what you think" he growled at Chizuru specifically as he could clearly read her presumptuous train of thought through the twitches in her eye.

"What? What is it?" asked Ayame-chan looking between the two.

"…"

"…"

"Kuchiyose turned the diamond earring into an engagement ring for Alice"

"AYA! Serio—"

" _ **No. I did not"**_

"Then where the bloody hell is that earring?!" Chizuru screeched.

She clapped her hand onto her mouth as soon as the first million decibel left her lips. The patrons in the café turned and gave them stoney glares before tutting and resuming their meals. She looked away sheepishly and once again fixed her attention on Kuchiyose Byakko. That sly white tiger. He had the audacity to roll his eyes and sighed heavily for the millionth time. His hazel eyes swam with exasperation and defeat as his surrender to the two pushy girls was inevitable. Chizuru and Ayame-chan waited with bated breath for him to give his answer once and for all about what had become of the mysterious earring which once belonged to the Danish Nakiri Princess, and put them out of this misery of not-knowing.

He opened his mouth…

…and stuck out his tongue

"Oh" Ayame-chan gulped.

"Definitely not an earring anymore"

"How did we miss _that?!_ "

"Obviously you need to be Alice-san and making out with him to tell…" said Ayame.

Kuchiyose-kun smirked _"Or go down on her"_

 **"WHAT?!"**

 **"WHAT?!"**

 _"What"_


End file.
